Digital media player and method for facilitating social music discovery and commerce

ABSTRACT

A portable digital media player and method for providing convenient music discovery are presented. Music is maintained and includes a multiplicity of music stored in digital media form on a portable digital media player. A music recommendation is displayed to a recipient. A message included is processed for information to describe the music recommended, to identify the recommender, to capture a context of the recommendation, and to specify a rating for the music recommended. At least part of the information is integrated into a display of the music on the portable digital media player. The information is displayed to the recipient as integrated. Action upon the music recommended is facilitated through one or more of playback and addition of the music to the music on the portable digital media player through an external source.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This non-provisional patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C.§ 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application, Ser. No. 60/993,356,filed Sep. 10, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated byreference.

FIELD

This application relates in general to music discovery and commerce and,in particular, to a digital media player and method for facilitatingsocial music discovery and commerce.

BACKGROUND

Digital media players provide an easily customized, and increasinglyubiquitous, personal environment for experiencing digital media. Digitalmedia players include units dedicated strictly to media playback,particularly digitally recorded music or video, hybrid units thatprovide media playback as part of a suite of functions, such as “smart”mobile telephones with integral media players, and virtual units thatare implemented wholly in software for execution on a personal computeror similar device. Other digital media players are possible.

A portable digital media player for personal music enjoyment isillustrative of the features sets offered. For example, a digital mediaplayer could be loaded with an entire music collection and a musiclistener could choose music to play based on title, artist, genre,composer, album, or other criteria. The listener could also create playlists thematically organized for exercise, commute, home, or otherpurpose. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a prior allpersonal music environment 10. A typical portable digital media player11 uses either solid state memory or hard disk storage to store acollection 12 of recorded digital media 13, and other data, such as auser profile. A user interface 14 provides tactile or voice controls 15to select and play the media 13, and a display or other indication 16that the media 13 is being played or viewed. The capabilities of theuser interface 14 can vary, depending upon the size and form factor ofthe player 11. A data interface 17 allows the player 11 to upload themedia 13 from external sources 18 and to synchronize data. The datainterface 17 provides wired or wireless interconnections to hostcomputers or network servers and can be data- or cellular-networkcapable. Other components are possible.

Conventionally, recorded digital media 13 must first be uploaded onto adigital media player 11 from an external source 18 before becomingavailable for selection or playback. Music packaged in physical form 19,such as cassette, LP record, or CD, must first be converted intocompatible digital format, frequently requiring playback equipment and apersonal computer. The proliferation of high bandwidth network access20, such as the Internet, and the adoption of digital encoding allowmedia 13 to be purchased online and shared electronically throughdigital media stores 21 and similar online enterprises. Personal musiccomposition software 22 provides a further source of media 13 for onlinesharing and critique.

Despite their conveniences, digital media players have theirlimitations. Discovering media beyond the scope of the stored mediaremains a process divorced from player usage. For instance, fellowaficionados must share their media recommendations by word of mouth orwritten message and the recipient must then separately find and reviewthe media, after which the media must still be uploaded before finallybecoming available. Moreover, musical tastes are notoriously subjectiveand dependent on mood, timing, locale, and other factors. Thus, a mediarecommendation recipient may not be open to suggestion at the time ofreceipt, thereby further alienating media discovery from player usage.As well, adding media encountered in the ambient environment to a storedcollection requires identifying and remembering enough information aboutthe media to identify the music or work, and later obtaining the media,which is a process generally removed in time, place, and circumstance.

Conventional approaches fail to adequately facilitate media discovery bydigital media player users. The iPod digital media player and iTunesclient software respectively sold and licensed by Apple Inc. providefull featured digital media playback, and digital media transfer andpurchase through an online music store. Media can only be shared if partof the same collection, which is accessed through the client software.In addition, a recently announced collaboration between StarbucksCorporation, Seattle, Wash., and Apple Inc., Cupertino, Calif., enablesa user of a Wi-Fi enabled iPod digital media player to find out thetitle of a song currently being played in a Starbucks cafe through thetap of a button, after which the song can be purchased and downloadeddirectly from an online music store. See, e.g., John Markoff, Apple CutsiPhone Price Ahead of Holidays, N.Y. TIMES, Sep. 6, 2007, the disclosureof which is incorporated by reference. However, the service onlyoperates in participating stores with subscribed iPod players and doesnot automatically integrate the song title into an existing musiccollection, absent purchase and download.

The Zune digital audio player and client software respectively sold andlicensed by Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash., provide limitedwireless file sharing, and digital music purchase through an onlinemusic store. Stored digital audio can be shared between Zune users undera “three plays or three days, whichever comes first” policy. The policyis indiscriminately applied to any audio content transferred betweenplayers and shared songs expire unconditionally in three days, even ifnot played. File sharing is limited to other Zune users within physicalrange, and email, messaging, and recommendations from sources that areout of range remain unavailable. As a result, file sharing remainsunappealing.

The MusicGremlin Portable Wi-Fi Device sold by MusicGremlin, Inc., NewYork, N.Y., provides a portable music player for use with a musicsubscription service, which allows a user to wirelessly search, play,and download music using the device. Programmed playlists and musicpurchased through a client personal computer can also be automaticallydownloaded to the device, and music recommendations can be exchangedwith fellow subscribers. However, the device is tied to a specificsubscription service. As well, the music recommendations are notcontextually integrated into the device's playlist and lack ratings,which would help a recipient to evaluate their overall utility ill lightof other recommendations and sources.

A metadata sharing application for mobile phones is described in S.Baumann et al., “BluctunA: Let Your Neighbour Know What Music You Like,”CHI 2007 (Apr. 28-May 3, 2007), the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference. Users of Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones can shareinformation about their music preferences by allowing other users inproximity of their mobile phone to access information about their playlist. However, the information sharing is limited by physical devicerange and works anonymously, thereby providing information untied tocredibility or authoritativeness of the source.

Finally, online music services, such as Rhapsody, licensed byRealNetworks, Seattle, Wash., and Last.FM, licensed by Last.fm Ltd.,London, UK, provide personalized music recommendations. Rhapsody offersa subscription music listening service that can provide personal musicrecommendations. Last.FM builds a profile of a user's musical tastesbased on his listening habits as monitored from streamed radio stationsor digital music player. The music recommendations, though, are basedupon the user's own musical tastes and not evolved from externalsources, such as through a social network.

Therefore, there is a need for integrating music recommendation anddiscovery into a personal listening environment, both in easing themanner of making a music recommendation and in presenting therecommendation to a music listener when most receptive.

SUMMARY

One embodiment provides a digital media player and method forfacilitating music discovery. A music recommendation is presented in adigital media player. Information is extracted from the musicrecommendation to describe one or more of an identification of the musicrecommended, the recommender, a context of the recommendation, and arating for the music recommended. At least part of the information isintegrated into a display of music on the digital media player. Therecipient is enabled to directly act upon the music recommendationthrough the digital media player.

A further embodiment provides a portable digital media player and methodfor providing convenient music discovery. Music is maintained andincludes a multiplicity of music stored in digital media form on aportable digital media player. A music recommendation is displayed to arecipient. A message included is processed for information to describethe music recommended, to identify the recommender, to capture a contextof the recommendation, and to specify a rating for the musicrecommended. At least part of the information is integrated into adisplay of the music on the portable digital media player. Theinformation is displayed to the recipient as integrated. Action upon themusic recommended is facilitated through one or more of playback andaddition of the music to the music on the portable digital media playerthrough an external source.

Accordingly, from a user's point of view, the continuum of actions fromrecommending to receiving recommendations, and of music logging become aconvenient and integrated procedure that helps make music discovery anelegant and pleasant experience. From the perspective of musicdistributors, social networks become effective viral marketing channelsfor the “long tail” of less popular music selections.

In addition, recommendations from friends and other sources areintegrated into a personal music collection in context. A user is thusable to locate new music for which there is good reason to believe thatthe user would be interested in listening. Moreover, the integrationplaces the recommendations at a place where he would be likely toencounter the recommendations, particularly while browsing his ownstored music. Music in his collection is thereby combined with othermusic in which he would likely have an interest.

Still other embodiments of the present invention will become readilyapparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, wherein are described embodiments by way of illustratingthe best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will berealized, the invention is capable of other and different embodimentsand its several details are capable of modifications in various obviousrespects, all without departing from the spirit and the scope of thepresent invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed descriptionare to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a prior art personal musicenvironment.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a system for facilitatingsocial music discovery and commerce, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a system for facilitatingsocial music discovery through sampling, identification, and logging.

FIG. 4 is a data flow diagram showing, by way of example, components ofa music recommendation.

FIG. 5 is a data flow diagram showing, by way of example, sources ofpersonal music.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram showing a method for facilitatingsocial music discovery and commerce, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing, by way of example, receptiveness tomusic-selection suggestion as a function of music activity.

FIG. 8 is a screen diagram showing, by way of example, a visual displayfor a personal music collection for use with the systems of FIGS. 2 and3.

FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram showing music suggestion placement in avisual display for use with the methods of FIGS. 2 and 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although described here in relation to digital music, the embodimentsapply generally to all forms of digital media recordings, includingaudio and video recordings, as well as written information, such as newspostings and Web pages. Additionally, digital media players embrace allforms of digital media playback device, including portable, mobile, andstationary players.

Music Recommendation and Presentation Overview

Music can be efficiently recommended by one user of a digital mediaplayer to another user, even if the recommender and recipient users areseparated by time, place, or circumstance. FIG. 2 is a functional blockdiagram showing a system for facilitating social music discovery andcommerce 30, in accordance with one embodiment. By way of example, twoindividuals 31, 37 are engaged in some fashion with their respectivedigital media players 33, 38, at the same or possibly different times.One of the individuals is a music recommender 31, while the otherindividual is a music recommendation recipient 37. The roles ofrecommender and recipient are interchangeable and can involve more thana single pair of music aficionados or digital media players.

The recommender 31 can decide to send a music recommendation 35(operation 32) to the recipient 37 at any time while listening to orviewing the music collection stored on his player 33. The recommendation35 could be for a limited excerpt, single song, selection of songs or“tracks,” album, or music compilation. The recommender 31 could also beusing his player 33 in some way other than listening to or perusing hisstored music collection. For instance, if the player 33 is integral to a“smart” mobile telephone, the recommender 31 may decide upon arecommendation 35 while on a call. The recommender 31 picks the musicand his player 33 generates the recommendation 35 (operation 34), eitherautomatically or with assistance from the recommender 31. The contentsof the recommendation 35 are further described below with reference toFIG. 4. In a further embodiment, the music can be digitally encoded toenable subsequent tracking, unless tracking is disallowed by the source,recommender, recipient, or other party. Once generated, the player 33electronically sends the recommendation 35 (operation 36) to therecipient's player 38.

Unless the recommender 31 indicates otherwise, the player 33automatically identifies the song currently in play or being viewed asthe music to be recommended. The recommender 31 must specify a recipient37 and the player 33 generates a music recommendation 35 that issubsequently transmitted to the recipient 37, such as described incommonly-assigned U.S. patent application, entitled “Digital MediaPlayer and Method for Facilitating Music Recommendation,” Ser. No.______, filed ______, pending, the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference. In a further embodiment, the music recommendation 35 anddetails regarding its use (not shown) can be subsequently tracked,unless tracking is disallowed by the recommender 31, recipient 37, orother party.

The methodology of the receipt of a music recommendation forpresentation to the recipient (operation 39) is also further discussedbelow with reference to FIG. 6. Briefly, the recommendation 35 isreceived by the recipient's player 38. Upon learning of the receipt ofthe recommendation 35 from his player 38, the recipient 37 canimmediately listen to or view the recommendation 35, save therecommendation 35 for later presentation, or ignore or discard therecommendation 35 altogether. Absent other disposition, therecommendation 35 is automatically integrated into the recipient's musiccollection. The music title or other information from the recommendation35 appears as a virtual part of the recipient's music collection.

In a further embodiment, the music content itself may have to beseparately obtained. For instance, the player 38 may fetch and cache asample of recommended music, or even the entire digital work. By cachingthe recommended music in the background, the player 38 can make musicexploration more responsive and enjoyable, so that a user does not haveto wait for music to download before listening. In addition, the playingof the digital work may be subject to controls, such as digital rightsmanagement. The digital rights may allow the user to play the music onceor to play a sample of the music. The digital rights could have otherlimitations. Finally, the player 38 may facilitate a commercialtransaction, so that the user can easily purchase the music from anonline music retailer or obtain the music from a subscription service.

Music Logging Overview

Music can be efficiently discovered through logging by a digital mediaplayer, even if the viewing or playing of the music on the player isseparated by time, place, or circumstance. FIG. 3 is a functional blockdiagram showing a system for facilitating social music discovery throughsampling, identification, and logging 40. Music logging can occur ondemand upon the action of an individual music “discoverer” 41, orautonomously by automatic music logging performed by his digital mediaplayer 41.

The discoverer 41 could be engaged in some fashion with his digitalmedia player 41. Upon hearing music playing in the ambient environment42, the discoverer 41 decides to take a sample, that is, a shortrecording, of the music (operation 44). In a further embodiment, theplayer 43 automatically senses and samples the music without any furtheraction by the discoverer 41. The music sample is thereafter identified,if possible, although the discoverer 41 may need to be prompted tochoose a particular version if several known versions of the music arefound. Following identification, the music is integrated into thediscoverer's music collection, such as described in commonly-assignedU.S. patent application, entitled “Digital Media Player and Method forFacilitating Social Music Discovery through Sampling, Identification,and Logging,” Ser. No. ______, filed ______, pending, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated by reference. In a further embodiment, the musicsample can be digitally encoded to enable subsequent tracking, unlesstracking is disallowed by the source, recommender, recipient, or otherparty.

Music Recommendation Components

A music recommendation contains information about the music that isbeing recommended. The music recommendation does not necessarily includethe music itself, which could be separately obtained and uploaded by therecipient. FIG. 4 is a data flow diagram showing, by way of example,components 50 of a music recommendation 51. The components 50 aregrouped into information relating to identification of the music 52, therecommender 53, the context 54 of the recommendation 51, and theassociated rating 55. Other information components are possible.

Identification information 52 relates to information about the music ordigital work itself. For clarity, the music that is being recommendedwill hereafter be referred to as a music selection, although the musiccould be a single tune or song, selection or related set of songs or“tracks,” album, music compilation, or other type or form of related orassociated music content. Specific identification information 52 caninclude the title of the music selection, performing artist, album name,genre, publisher, availability, length, digital identifier, and a sampleof the music or work. Other specific identification information ispossible.

The recommender information 53 identifies the source of therecommendation 51. Absent consent, personal privacy considerations maylimit what information is provided for an individual that sent arecommendation, although an institutional recommender, such as arecommendation service or online store, might be willing or required todivulge their information. Specific recommender information 53 includesthe recommender's name, relation, such as friend, subscribed, orautomated system, address data, phone number, email address, and Website. Automated system information includes data on usage, socialfiltering, or collaborative filtering. In addition, informationconcerning a self-recommendation, which must include an explicit act bythe user to rate the music highly, as further described below withreference to FIG. 5, can include whether the information originates froma subscription or news service, or a sampling source. Other specificrecommender information is possible, including text or voiceannotations.

The context information 54 relates to the time, place, or circumstanceof a recommendation. The specific context information available willdepend upon the setting or environment in which the recommendation wasmade. For instance, the time and date of a recommendation can generallybe discerned based on when the recommendation was sent, even if therecommender's digital media player lacks a built-in clock. However, thecircumstances surrounding a recommendation may not be directly known,unless the recommender annotates the circumstances to therecommendation. Other context information would have to be eitherdirectly sensed by the digital media player, or indirectly derived.Thus, a geolocational receiver would be needed to automaticallydetermine location if the digital media player is portable. Similarly, acalendar would have to be evaluated to match up events torecommendations, such as a concert, party, or holiday. Other specificcontext information is possible.

The rating information 55 is typically based on a Leikert scale. Therating could two-level or multi-level. The rating is generally from therecommender, Other specific rating information is possible.

Recommendation Sources

Over time, a digital media player can amass a wide assortment of music,which has been received from various sources. FIG. 5 is a data flowdiagram showing, by way of example, sources 60 of personal music. Thesources 60 can be loosely grouped into “traditional” sources 62,recommendation sources 63, and sampled sources 69. The sources aremerely representative of common music sources available to a musiccollector. Other music sources are possible.

Traditional sources 62 include storefront and online music retailchannels, such as described above with reference to FIG. 1. However,this source places the burden of growing the personal music collection61 on the collector, relying on his efforts and intuition to buy orobtain music as activities collateral to the use and enjoyment of hisdigital media player. The collector is left to seek out and auditionmusic on his own before taking further steps to purchase or obtain,convert, upload, and integrate the music into his collection 61.

Recommendation sources 63 include several types of recommenders. Adirect recommendation source 64 is a form of person-to-personrecommendation and includes recommendations received from friends,family, colleagues, or fellow aficionados, such as described above withreference to FIG. 2. A direct recommendation source 64 is also known associal filtering or social recommendations. A recommendation originatingfrom an online recommendation service or individual recommender, such asan online music critic that sends a music recommendation each week,constitutes a subscribed recommendation source 65. The user of theplayer can also be a self-recommendation source 66 for music or otherdigital media originating from an ambient source. The user signalsapproval, such as by tapping his player, that an ambient sourceidentified by the player should be sampled for music logging. Ausage-based recommendation source 67 is similar to a direct source 64,except by functioning implicitly to recommend music or other digitalmedia by tracking listening habits and automatically generating arecommendation when user profile usage recommendation parameters aresatisfied. Finally, a popularity- and profile-based recommendationsource 68 bases recommendations on groups of users who appear to sharecommon tastes. A recommendation is generated if group members buy orlisten to certain music. A popularity and profile recommendation source68 is also known as collaborative filtering or collaborativerecommendations. Other types of recommendation sources are possible.

The quality or authoritativeness of the recommendation source matters.Recommendations from trusted sources are considered more reliable thansources that generally send irrelevant or uninteresting recommendations.The recommender information 53 and context information 54 included aspart of each recommendation 51 (shown in FIG. 4) can help a collector toorganize or filter recommendations, as well as the recommendersthemselves, as further described below with reference to FIG. 9. Forinstance, reliable recommenders whose recommendations are generallytrusted and followed may be rated higher or assigned greater weight thanother recommenders. In addition, the recommendations from those trustedrecommenders could also be displayed more prominently to reflect theirhigher credibility or greater weight. Conversely, recommendations fromseldom followed or untrusted recommenders could be automatically ignoredor discarded.

Finally, sampled sources 69 include music recommended by the userhimself and samples autonomously collected from an ambient environment.Like recommendation sources 63, sampled sources 69 can be evaluated andrated. Raw samples from random music logging might be the lowest rated,as the music would likely be of lowest interest. Self-recommended music,though, might be highly rated, particularly where the music selectionsampled can be completely identified from the music sample alone. Forexample, if music logging takes place “on demand,” the act of taking thesample reflects the user's intention and implies a high rating. If musiclogging is proactive, that is, autonomous, the user could signal arating while the music is playing, or could add a rating later whilelistening to the music. Other types of sampled sources are possible.

Recommendation Presentation

Music recommendation presentation refers to the receipt and integrationof a music recommendation into personal music stored on a digital mediaplayer. FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram showing a method forfacilitating social music discovery and commerce 70, in accordance withone embodiment. The method is performed as a series of process steps oroperations executed by a digital media player or similar device.

A music recommendation can be received by a digital media player at anypermitted times and can be presented to the recipient right away, or atanother time (operation 71). The recommendation can be receivedimmediately, if the player has the capability, such as via wireless orcellular network. Alternatively, the receipt of the recommendation canbe deferred until the player is connected or “docked” to asynchronization device, such as a personal computer. In addition, theplayer can immediately notify the recipient that a recommendation hasbeen received, or can defer notification to a later time. The player canalso forego notification and remain silent, such as during the playingof music.

Each recommendation can identify one or more music selections. Theplayer can optionally preprocess the recommendation (operation 72). Forinstance, the player may identify those music selections in therecommendation that are already in the recipient's personal music on theplayer. Recommendations for music selections already in the recipient'spersonal music may be permissible, but could be marked by the player toindicate that the recommendation refers to already-owned music ordigital media. For example, the recipient may have not yet listened to arecently-purchased album, yet a friend who also has the same albumrecommended listening to a particular track. The player may can alsoorganize or combine new recommendations, such as by groupingrecommendations from multiple friends or related recommenders, or mayconsolidate multiple recommendations for the same music selection.Conversely, the player could filter recommendations from recommenderswho have provided bad advice in the past, that is, recommendations withwhich the recipient did not agree. Other preprocessing operations arepossible.

The recommended music selections are then automatically integrated intothe personal music (operation 73). Any information included with therecommendation, such as identification of the music, the recommender,the context of the recommendation, and the associated rating, are alsoextracted or processed. “Integration” effectively expands the scope ofthe recipient's personal music by including already-owned, recommended,and sampled music selections as a logical part of the personal music.Thus, seeing each recommendation in an appropriate music context becomeeasy and convenient for the recipient. Moreover, the recommendation ispresented at a time when he is most likely to be interested in the musicrecommended. As well, the integration need not be the addition of theactual music into the personal music. If available, a sample orplay-limited version could instead be added, or only the recommendationmaybe integrated, such as narrative only.

In a further embodiment, only a part of a larger music collection ismaintained on the digital media player, such as would be required onthose players with limited onboard storage. However, the player treatsall of the music in the collection as being virtually stored on theplayer and dynamically downloads non-local music from an associatedpersonal computer or other source. Thus, the player provides theillusion that a larger music collection than physically stored on theplayer is available. In a fashion analogous to a cache into a virtualmemory, the player could include a music cache to store music onboardbased on a cache policy, such as “most recently used” or “only upondemand.” In addition, the display on the player would visuallydistinguish between music that was already cached, that is, storedonboard, and music, which needed to be downloaded with a possible delay.Recommendations would appear even for music that is not currently storedon the player, but which is nevertheless accessible through caching.

In a still further embodiment, a music selection could be automaticallydownloaded by a digital media player upon receiving, for instance, astrong or favorable recommendation or other criteria. The automaticdownload would improve performance on players with limited downloadingbandwidth. Additionally, the downloaded music selection could be arendition with initial limitations on playback rights, such as a musicsample or play-limited version. Upon playing the downloaded musicselection, the recipient could indicate a desire to purchase, unlessalready indicated by default in his user profile. The initial playbackrights limitations would subsequently be removed to allow immediateaccess to a full version of the music selection without the downloadwaiting time. The player would attend to payment and transactionaccounting in the background.

When optionally viewed through a navigation pane (operation 74), thetitle or other information for each music selection is logicallyinserted into the personal music under the same display parameters asany previously-identified and stored music. For ease of use, however,the recommended music selections are preferably displayed using adifferent font, color, or other display attribute, as further describedbelow with reference to FIG. 9. In addition, where other types ofdigital media are being recommended, the recommendations are viewed inanalogous display settings. For instance, integrated videorecommendations would appear in a navigation pane listed under a “ToSee” log, while integrated news recommendations would appear in a “ToRead” log or in a daily news listing under a matched topic.

Logically integrating the recommended music selections into the personalmusic helps to opportunistically suggest the potential purchase of musicto the recipient 25 at a time when he may be most receptive. FIG. 7 is agraph 80 showing, by way of example, receptiveness to music-selectionsuggestion as a function of music activity. The x-axis 81 representsmusic-related activities as a continuum of personal involvement on thepart of the music listener. The y-axis 82 represents the relative levelof receptiveness experienced by a music listener in increasing order.

Receptiveness 83 can be diagrammatically depicted as a function ofmusic-related activities. Minimal activity 84 occurs when the user ishaving little to no involvement with his player. Searching activity 85is goal-oriented and occurs when the user is trying to find a particularselection of music, which is also when the user would likely welcomerelevant recommendations. The player enlarges the search scope toinclude the recommendation information, as described above withreference to FIG. 4. Organizing activity 86 occurs after music has beenfound, but prior to listening, such as while composing a play list.During organizing activity 86, the available selections of music havebeen narrowed down by taste or other criteria and recommendations onlyappear within the display parameters in force. Finally, listeningactivity 87 connotes the actual playing of music on the player. Theshaded area 88 of the receptiveness curve 83 respectively bounded by thesearching and organizing activities 85, 86 represents peakreceptiveness, during which times the listener is most likely to bereceptive to a recommendation. Integrating the music recommendationsinto the display thereby ensures that the recommendations are availableboth in form with existing music for purposes of organization andthrough recommendation information for location through search.

Referring back to FIG. 6, the integration of recommended musicselections enables the recipient to conveniently act upon arecommendation. Briefly, acting upon the music recommendation includeslistening to the recommendation, purchasing the recommendation, lookingfor music related to the recommendation, and adding the recommendationto a wish list of music that the recipient hopes to acquire, althoughother actions are possible. Thus, the recipient can review eachrecommendation by reading or listening to the recommendation informationand any annotations or other information (operation 75). The recipientcan also optionally provide feedback to the recommender. The recipientcould also proceed to purchase the music selection (operation 76) from amusic retail channel. Preferably, the player omits offering purchase ofalready-owned music. To provide ease of use, the user interface of thedigital media player facilitates recommendation review, purchase, orother recipient action by a single simple action, such as pressing abutton, gesturing with the player, tapping a part of the screen,speaking a particular key phrase, and so forth User actions could alsobe specified by default, such as automatically purchasing music with astrong recommendation. Finally, if permitted by the recipient,recommender, or other party, the tracking information could also befurnished to the music retail channel or other party (operation 77).Tracking information can include information about the music selectionpurchased and demographic information about the recipient, althoughother tracking information is possible. Still other recommendationpresentation operations are possible.

Incentive System

The improved ease of use and convenience afforded by social musicdiscovery can facilitate commerce through increased music acquisition,such as through online purchase, download, or license. By encouragingand rewarding music recommendation and follow through, music retailchannels and other commercial music sources can acquire valuableinsights into what music is most frequently recommended and betweenwhom. For instance, an individual recommender may receive an incentivefrom a music retail channel in recognition of having facilitated theeventual purchase of a recommended music selection by a recipient. Thetracking information would need to be made available to the music retailchannel, which would need to corroborate the recipient's purchase tosafeguard against fabricated claims. Similarly, a commercialrecommender, such as a subscription service, may receive an incentivefrom a music label as a bonus for highlighting otherwise overlookedmusic selections or for discovering artists early before “popularitypricing” that slowly raises the price of music with increasing demand asartists become more popular kicks in. In addition, social musicdiscovery further facilitates commerce by facilitating the purchase ofcollateral goods and services in relation to the music recommendation orother music, such as concert tickets, posters, tee shirts, and othermusic-related goods, directly from a digital media player. Still otherforms of incentive business model are possible.

Music discovery further facilitates commerce by enabling other partiesto acquire music on behalf of a recipient by providing wish lists. Forinstance, a young recipient might have received a number ofrecommendations from friends and wanted to buy the music recommended,but lacked the money to purchase. He could add the music recommendationsto a wish list on his player, which would be publishable to friends andfamily. Those wish list recipients could thereafter access the wish liston their own player and authorize a purchase for the wishful recipient,along with an annotated greeting or well wish. The music would then beautomatically downloaded to the wishful recipient augmenting with wishlists. In addition, duplicate purchases could be prevented by notifyingwish list recipients that the wishful recipient already has that music.Alternatively, the wish list recipients could “gift” the wishfulrecipient by sending a gift certificate, which can be used to purchasethe recommended music.

Finally, fellow music aficionados, so-called “birds-of-a-feather,” couldbe virtually connected to online information resources in support ofcommunity building. These resources include information pages, “wikis,”discussion groups, and similar music social network conduits. Forinstance, users who get involved with one version of a song may enjoydiscussions with other users about other versions of the same song. Aparticipating community could then become a focus market for relatedmaterials to which digital tickets and similar incentives could beprovided to build customer interest and loyalty.

Visual Display

Limits on human visual perception and digital manipulative abilitiesrestrict the physical sizes of the displays and controls provided in theuser interfaces of digital media players. FIG. 8 is a screen diagramshowing, by way of example, a visual display 90 for a personal musiccollection for use with the systems of FIGS. 2 and 3. The visual display90 assumes sufficient space to provide multiple rows of informationregarding a personal music collection. The display 90 is supplementedwith controls (not shown) to enable navigation and selection of music,although the composition of play lists is generally performed offline,where text entry capabilities are available. The display 90 includesparameters 91 to display music selections by artist 92, title 93, album94, genre 95, and source 96, although other display parameters arepossible. Each column is sortable and searchable, as accommodated by thecontrols.

Music selections, both recommended and sample music that has beenidentified, are included in the visual display as an integral part ofthe music collection. In general, the amount of information displayed issensitive to the amount of space available and allocated in the display.For example, on a player in which a user can “open” or “close” thefolders for groups of music shown in a display, opening a Celtic folderwould show all artists and albums in the Celtic genre. Closing the samefolder might just show the genre, Celtic, and not the music containedwithin. The display of recommendations thus follows the display of themusic. If all music selections are displayed, recommendations in theCeltic genre would show up closest to the most relevant selections.However, if the folder is closed, the player would only show the numbersof music selections and recommendations. In addition, the display canincorporate further useful elements. When a user is looking at arecommendation, controls could enable him to read or listen to anymessage from the recommender. The display could also show when therecommendation was made and any rating provided by the recommender. Ifthere is more than one recommendation for a music selection, the usermay want to read or listen to multiple recommendations. Finally,controls could facilitate buying, such as from an online music retailer,or otherwise obtaining the recommended music, for instance, from asubscription service.

The type of music selection, that is, existing music, recommended music,and sampled music, can be indicated using a different font, color, orother display attribute. In addition, the quality or authoritativenessof the recommender can be applied, either in how the music selectionappears or whether the music selection is rated or omitted. Moreover,the “staleness” of a music selection could affect manifestation in thevisual display. For instance, a recommendation or sample that issignificantly older than more recent music selections might be filteredout. Other visual display criteria are possible.

In a further embodiment, the spatial arrangement of the integrated musicselections can be controlled to help distinguish recommended or sampledmusic from already-existing music acquisitions. Various indications canbe used, including representing each piece as an icon or symbol, placingthe recommended pieces adjacent to the music collection, or ordering andhighlighting the recommended pieces within the music collection. Inaddition, a calendar could be generated to match up events torecommendations, such as a concert, party, or holiday, or a timelinecould be created with one or more clusters of music recommendations.Still other spatial arrangement or indications are possible.

Music Recommendation Placement

The recommended and sampled music selections are logically integratedinto the visual display in an ordering to help ensure relevant anduseful placement. FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram showing musicsuggestion placement in a visual display for use with the methods ofFIGS. 2 and 3. The ordering determines placement as a function of degreeof interest and contextual relevance.

First, the degree of interest 101 rates whether a recommendation isexpected to be of interest to the listener in any context. The degree ofinterest 101 depends upon recommendation-specific factors, such therecommendation source and associated reliability, described above withreference to FIG. 5; the recommender's level of intention; thereliability of the recommender; and timing, that is, when therecommendation was sent. A recommender whose recommendations aregenerally followed, such as a subscribed recommendation source, would beassigned more weight than a seldom-followed recommender, like acollaborative recommendation. Similarly, a recommendation recently sentwould be afforded greater weight than a stale recommendation. Otherfactors weighing into degree of interest 101 are possible.

Second, the contextual relevance 102 characterizes the current listeningcontext of the listener and can include evaluation of the possiblespectrum of music-related activities 81, as described above withreference to FIG. 7. Contextual relevance seeks to identify thoserecommendations to which a listener would presently be most receptive.For example, a listener browsing “Baroque music” would not likely havemuch interest in contemporary pop or light jazz. Contextual relevancecan be derived, for instance, from the display, which generally isconstrained to show only a subset of an overall personal musiccollection. Thus, contextual relevance applies similar constraints, suchas genre, artist, and so forth, in evaluating the recommendations toshow. Other types of contextual relevance are possible.

Finally, placement 103 is a function of the degree of interest andcontextual relevance 102. A music selection from a recommendation thatreflects a sufficient decree of interest and which is contextuallyrelevant may be placed or integrated into the collection. Actualplacement 103 applies the same constraints as listed music, and thusdepends upon the ordering principles of the listing and the relatednessof the recommended music to the displayed music. Other forms ofplacement are possible.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described asreferenced to the embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art willunderstand that the foregoing and other changes in form and detail maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope.

1. A digital media player for facilitating music discovery, comprising:a display to present a music recommendation in a digital media player,comprising: a processing module to extract from the music recommendationinformation to describe one or more of an identification of the musicrecommended, the recommender, a context of the recommendation, and arating for the music recommended; and a presentation module to integrateat least part of the information into a display of music on the digitalmedia player; and a control to enable the recipient to directly act uponthe music recommendation through the digital media player.
 2. A playeraccording to claim 1, further comprising at least one of: an inputbuffer to receive the music recommendation immediately or on a deferredbasis; an alert module to notify the recipient that the musicrecommendation has been received immediately or on a deferred basis; anda bypass module to forego notification to the recipient that the musicrecommendation has been received.
 3. A player according to claim 1,further comprising at least one of: a culling module to identify themusic in the music recommendation already in the music on the digitalmedia player; an organization module to group music recommendations froma plurality of related recommenders or to consolidate multiplerecommendations for the same music; a screening module to filter a musicrecommendations from a recommender with which the recipient does notagree; an incentivizer to award an incentive to the recommender inrecognition of the music recommendation; a collateral marketing moduleto facilitate purchase of topically-related collateral goods andservices related to the music or the music recommendation; a musicsocial network conduit to form a virtual online community of recipientshaving a shared interest; and a publisher to distribute a wish listcomprising the music recommendation to other digital media players forpossible purchase for or gifting to the recipient.
 4. A player accordingto claim 1, further comprising at least one of: a playback control toplay a rendition of the music recommended with initial limitations onplayback rights; and an acquisition control to add the music from anexternal source selected from the group comprising an online musicretailer and a subscription service, which is electronically linkedthrough the digital media player.
 5. A player according to claim 1,further comprising at least one of: information for the identificationof the music recommended selected from the group comprising a title ofthe music, performing artist, album name, genre, publisher,availability, length, digital identifier, and a sample of the music;information for the recommender selected from the group comprising therecommender's name, relation, address data, phone number, email address,Web site, usage, social filtering, and collaborative filtering;information for the context of the recommendation selected from thegroup comprising a time, place, or circumstance of the recommendation;and information for the rating for the music recommended selected fromthe group comprising a position on one of a two-level scale and amulti-level scale.
 6. A player according to claim 1, wherein the musicrecommended comprises one of content other than actual music, arendition of the music with initial limitations on playback rights, anindirect reference to an online sample of the music, and another musicrecommendation that is being forwarded from another recommender.
 7. Aplayer according to claim 1, wherein the act comprises at least one oflistening to the music recommendation, purchasing the musicrecommendation, looking for music related to the music recommendation,and adding the music recommendation to a wish list.
 8. A method forfacilitating music discovery, comprising: presenting a musicrecommendation in a digital media player, comprising: extracting fromthe music recommendation information to describe one or more of anidentification of the music recommended, the recommender, a context ofthe recommendation, and a rating for the music recommended; andintegrating at least part of the information into a display of music onthe digital media player; and enabling the recipient to directly actupon the music recommendation through the digital media player.
 9. Amethod according to claim 8, further comprising at least one of:receiving the music recommendation immediately or on a deferred basis;notifying the recipient that the music recommendation has been receivedimmediately or on a deferred basis; and foregoing notification to therecipient that the music recommendation has been received.
 10. A methodaccording to claim 8, further comprising at least one of: identifyingthe music in the music recommendation already in the music on thedigital media player; grouping music recommendations from a plurality ofrelated recommenders; consolidating multiple recommendations for thesame music; filtering a music recommendations from a recommender withwhich the recipient does not agree; awarding an incentive to therecommender in recognition of the music recommendation; facilitatingpurchase of topically-related collateral goods and services related tothe music or the music recommendation: forming a virtual onlinecommunity of recipients having a shared interest; and distributing awish list comprising the music recommendation to other digital mediaplayers for possible purchase for or gifting to the recipient.
 11. Amethod according to claim 8, further comprising at least one of: playinga rendition of the music recommended with initial limitations onplayback rights; and adding the music from an external source selectedfrom the group comprising an online music retailer and a subscriptionservice, which is electronically linked through the digital mediaplayer.
 12. A method according to claim 8, further comprising at leastone of: selecting the identification of the music recommended from thegroup comprising a title of the music, performing artist, album name,genre, publisher, availability, length, digital identifier, and a sampleof the music: selecting the recommender from the group comprising therecommender's name, relation, address data, phone number, email address,Web site, usage, social filtering, and collaborative filtering;selecting the context of the recommendation from the group comprising atime, place, or circumstance of the recommendation: and selecting therating for the music recommended from the group comprising a position onone of a two-level scale and a multi-level scale.
 13. A method accordingto claim 8, wherein the music recommended comprises one of content otherthan actual music, a rendition of the music with initial limitations onplayback rights, an indirect reference to an online sample of the music,and another music recommendation that is being forwarded from anotherrecommender.
 14. A method according to claim 8, wherein the actcomprises at least one of listening to the music recommendation,purchasing the music recommendation, looking for music related to themusic recommendation, and adding the music recommendation to a wishlist.
 15. A portable digital media player for providing convenient musicdiscovery, comprising: a storage comprising music, which comprises amultiplicity of music stored in digital media form on a portable digitalmedia player; a display to present a music recommendation to arecipient, comprising: an extraction module to process a messageincluded in the music recommendation for information to describe themusic recommended, to identify the recommender, to capture a context ofthe recommendation, and to specify a rating for the music recommended;an integration module to integrate at least part of the information intoa display of the music on the portable digital media player; and anoutput module to display the information to the recipient as integrated;and an input control to facilitate action upon the music recommendedthrough one or more of playback and addition of the music to the musicon the portable digital media player through an external source.
 16. Aplayer according to claim 15, further comprising at least one of: adisplay manager to adapt the information displayed to an amount of spaceavailable and allocated in the display; a message playback control tofacilitate reading or listening of a message from the recommenderincluded with the music recommendation; a spatial arrangement of thedisplay, comprising at least one of controls to represent the music asan icon or a symbol, place the music adjacent to the music on theportable digital media player, and order and highlight the music withinthe music on the portable digital media player; a calendar comprisingone or more events as context associated with the music recommendation;and a timeline with one or more clusters of music recommendations.
 17. Aplayer according to claim 15, further comprising: a collection of musiccomprising the music stored on the portable digital media player and afurther multiplicity of music stored in digital media form on anexternal device, wherein the music collection is presented as virtuallystored on the player; and a music cache to dynamically download themusic from the external device based on a cache policy.
 18. A playeraccording to claim 15, further comprising: a cache to automaticallydownload the music recommended upon receipt in the background.
 19. Aplayer according to claim 18, further comprising at least one of: adownload selector to perform the automatic download only where therating for the music recommended favors the music; and a rights moduleto obtain a rendition of the music recommended with initial limitationson playback rights.
 20. A method for providing convenient musicdiscovery, comprising: maintaining music comprising a multiplicity ofmusic stored in digital media form on a portable digital media player;displaying a music recommendation to a recipient, comprising: processinga message included in the music recommendation for information todescribe the music recommended, to identify the recommender, to capturea context of the recommendation, and to specify a rating for the musicrecommended; integrating at least part of the information into a displayof the music on the portable digital media player; and displaying theinformation to the recipient as integrated; and facilitating action uponthe music recommended through one or more of playback and addition ofthe music to the music on the portable digital media player through anexternal source.
 21. A method according to claim 20, further comprisingat least one of: adapting the information displayed to an amount ofspace available and allocated in the display; facilitating reading orlistening of a message from the recommender included with the musicrecommendation; controlling spatial arrangement of the display,comprising at least one of: representing the music as an icon or asymbol; placing the music adjacent to the music on the portable digitalmedia player; and ordering and highlighting the music within the musicon the portable digital media player; generating a calendar comprisingone or more events as context associated with the music recommendation;and creating a timeline with one or more clusters of musicrecommendations.
 22. A method according to claim 20, further comprising:maintaining a collection of music comprising the music stored on theportable digital media player and a further multiplicity of music storedin digital media form on an external device; presenting the musiccollection as virtually stored on the player; and dynamicallydownloading the music from the external device based on a cache policy.23. A method according to claim 20, further comprising: automaticallydownloading the music recommended upon receipt in the background.
 24. Amethod according to claim 23, further comprising at least one of:performing the automatic download only where the rating for the musicrecommended favors the music; and obtaining a rendition of the musicrecommended with initial limitations on playback rights.